Bishop's Message

Bishop Wm Chris Boerger Northwest Washington Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Subscribe to receive notification of new messages >

Thank you
by The Rev. Wm Chris Boerger, Bishop

Thank you. I do not say that often enough in this epistle.

Thank you for the discipleship that is being lived out daily in the places where you live, work and play. Thank you for hearing the call of the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus in lives of service and compassion. Thank you for sharing your faith in word and in action. Thank you for living out the various vocations that you have in family, work and relationships.

We are recognizing again that our life in Christ is not just about “going to church”. It never was, but our over simplified culture has a times tried to limit our understanding of “living in the faith” as about being members of an institution called church. We know from Luther’s Small Catechism that our life in Christ is about our whole life.

Stewardship is about my whole life. It is about what I do and what I do not do. It is about how we live. It is about how I share my financial blessings. We tend to want to move to time and talents and to let treasure be at the bottom of our emphasis. But it is right to correct me when I overemphasize our financial stewardship with the reminder that what I do and how I live is also part of my stewardship.

As I go around the Synod I am continually impressed with the many a various ways that our members and congregations are in ministry to the neighbor. The schools and preschools of our synod are affecting young lives in important ways. The youth activities are building the leaders for the church today. The senior groups, with creative names, are providing unique and exciting ministry with and by the older members of our congregations.

All this is to say that God is at work through the discipleship of our members in the Northwest Washington Synod. For that I give thanks to God and to all of you. I will continue to say that we live in the mission field. That field is frankly growing to include the rest of this country but we are in leading edge of that field. The many and various ways in which you are responding to that reality is exciting and a source of hope in our world.

Thanks be to God and thank you.